By The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) has disclosed that a total of 1,767,488 eligible Nigerians have received the first dose of AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine in the first phase of vaccination, as of May 14, 2021.
According to the latest data from the agency, three states have reached 100 percent of their target population. The states include Kwara with 104 percent, while Ekiti and Cross River have 100 percent each.
So far, Lagos, FCT, and Kano have vaccinated the highest number of persons: 274,484, 118,895; and 92,583 respectively. With the data, the proportion of vaccinated Nigerians stands at 87.8 percent.
Speaking earlier this week during a virtual press briefing organised by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDC), the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Faisal Shuaib, disclosed that his Agency has started administering the second doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
“Administering these two doses of the vaccine within the recommended time frame is very important to ensure full inoculation benefits. This means that with the current supply, we will fully inoculate roughly 2 million Nigerians rather than partially inoculate 4 million Nigerians. We are removing an element of risk that is becoming too high,” he was quoted as saying by The Nation.
“We have already started administering second doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. In addition to health workers, frontline workers aged 18 years and above, and persons aged 50 years and above are being advised to visit any designated vaccination site to receive their vaccine doses whether the first or the second dose.”
